Growing Up Godly

The term "growing up" is relative.....I know people my age (mid-50s) who still function at the maturity level of a teenager. In my own life, I decided about 6 years ago to focus my life on doing whatever it takes to achieve the highest level of spiritual maturity I'm capable of, and then living my life accordingly. I began in a place of complete brokenness, and it's been a challenging full-time endeavor since, and not without some painful moments.

In the past week, spiritual maturity has come up time and again - the last two messages at church, my friend/pastor Dan Reiland's blog, and much discussion among my believer friends. My own blog entitled The Road Less Traveled shares the definition of spiritual maturity my pastor Kevin Myers set forth - 1) Emotional connection with God (heart) 2) Knowledge of His word (head) and 3) Holy Obedience (will). My blog offers my responses to each. (The 12Stone message linked above is worth 40 minutes of your time, if you missed it!)

I've been praying more about this topic and self-examining, specifically regarding the three "Spiritual Maturity Guidelines" that my pastor Dan Reiland presented last week. This contemplation has led me to make some much-needed adjustments in my own walk.

Transitions Mark Maturity

I must be transparent here; this has been a time of tremendous transition in my life. I moved last week, I finished my book recently, I'm taking new opportunities in ministry and my leadership role at church, and some of my personal relationships have taken interesting turns. I'm also traveling quite a bit, with different people and to places where I have a chance to enjoy new faith experiences.

When change comes, we have the opportunity to press into our faith in new ways and use change as a catalyst for growth. It's the more mature, and more difficult approach. The last month, I have spent a good deal of time on my knees and in tears, asking for God's guidance in drawing me closer. I've also had to let go of some things that were very dear to me in order to grow.

Here are the specific things I'm praying for in accordance with Dan's awesome spiritual maturity guidelines:

An Eternal Mindset that helps me focus FAR LESS on my own desires, and FAR MORE on God's calling for my life. I've been living selfishly, in the flesh, asking God for things that I believe will make me happy. Now, I want to focus on things that have eternal significance. If God is pleased with my life, then I am pleased - I'm not looking back to the way I used to be!

A Creation Framework that guides me in my purpose "in the land of the living" (this side of eternity). It's no coincidence that I've had Rick Warren's teachings on the brain lately, since I'm spending my Easter holiday with my friend Nancy who attends Saddleback in CA. In my move, I found The Purpose Driven Life Journal, a 40-day format for journaling about God's calling on my life.

In the past two weeks alone, I've had tremendous opportunities open up to me to write and lead/teach (my personal purpose). God has shown me why I'm on earth, what I need to focus on, and He's teaching me to trust Him to open doors. My purpose is twofold - 1) to model Christ's love to an unsaved world, and 2) to mentor others to grow spiritually.

A Redemptive Outlook that has shown me that God takes the broken parts of my life, and broken relationships, and restores them so that HE will be glorified. I was told prophetically that even my appearance is changing as I draw closer to God. When I reported for work Friday (after not seeing the President of our company for two months), she literally DID NOT recognize me! She is not a believer but when she said to me, "Wow, you look different!" she unknowingly confirmed a prophecy!

Pastor Dan points out in his blog that people change. We all change and grow, if we don't, then we risk getting stuck in a less mature place. I sure don't want that. Sometimes I wish growth wasn't so painful, but time and again in scripture (the book of James for example) we see that tremendous growth springs from suffering. My favorite scripture on this topic is 1 Peter 1: 6-7.

Questions To Ask Yourself

In my own life, I've come up with some questions that help me to discern my true level of spiritual maturity:

1.Who are you when no one is looking? Do you like yourself enough
to spend quiet time alone with God, focusing on growing in Christ,
and doing things that have eternal significance? In my maturing
process, I've come to value my private time with God in worship,
prayer and the word to keep my weapons sharp.

2.What is your FIRST response to adversity? Is it an emotional
response, or going to the Lord to seek His guidance?

3.How do you make big decisions in your life? We all have a process
for decision making, as I grow in Christ, I find that I spend time letting
go of decisions and asking God to work in my circumstances, rather
than trying to control things that are out of my control.

4.How do my emotions balance with God's truth? All too often, we
respond out of emotion (flesh) rather than out of the truth of God's
word. For me, I had to learn to let go of things and trust that God has
my best at heart. This allowed me to quit worrying and stressing, and
instead commit the circumstances of my life to God. I know that God
will work things out for His ETERNAL SIGNIFICANCE rather than for my
earthly gratification.

5.To what degree am I putting other's needs ahead of my own? I
recently had to release a relationship to God because He showed me
that the other person needs some margin in their life right now to
work through their own growth process. I was fighting God because
the relationship was serving me well, and I didn't want to let go. I
cried, and prayed, and sulked in moving beyond my own emotional
attachment to realize that the other person's needs matter more
than mine. Ultimately, I experienced true joy and peace in being able
to completely release this friendship to God. I was able to have an
eternal mindset and acknowledge that our time on earth is so short,
and that maybe this particular friendship is not to be a part of my
story, at least not the degree I thought at one time. I'm OK with that.

Growing Is A Process

As we work on giving grace to others, we need to be better at giving ourselves grace. Spiritual maturity is a process that that takes time, and we never quite get all the way there because we are still human. As we make mistakes, we grow along the way and experience power in our inadequacy.

My next blog will talk about some GROWTH STRATEGIES that worked for me in my own work to grow spiritually. They might help you, or yours might be different. These thoughts are meant to provoke your own thinking about your maturing process.

So until next time, Praise Crazy!